What Every Business Can Learn From Donald Trump

Trump paraphernalia are seen for sale on the store shelves of White House Gifts as President elect Donald Trump prepares to take the reins of power next week on January 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photograph by Joe Raedle—Getty Images

Many entrepreneurs are wondering how the Trump presidency will affect the small business landscape over the next four years. At this point, there’s nothing more than speculation for us to go on. That being said, let’s look at what Donald Trump can teach us that will help small businesses, no matter what the economic climate turns out to be.

A Little Showmanship Can Go a Long Way

Trump is nothing if not a little dazzling when it comes to his spot center stage. I think this is something more small businesses could do with: Having a little sizzle!

That doesn’t mean your business necessarily needs to be as polarizing (and sometimes offensive) as Trump. But it does mean you shouldn’t be afraid to put the spotlight on your brand once in awhile. Toot your own horn! Celebrate your wins and tell your online network about them!

How to Implement This: If you’re not comfortable being in the limelight, try out these options to become more accustomed to it:

Publish a press release about big news (securing a major client, winning an award).

Look for opportunities to be interviewed in the media as an expert in your field.

Become a guest blogger on high-profile sites.

Know Your Strengths

Trump quickly boiled down and labeled his opponents during the election, focusing on their weaknesses. While this may seem like an underhanded strategy to use in your business, you can instead focus on your strengths and celebrate them.

What makes your business better than the competition? Where are there gaps in the market that you fill? Why do customers come to you again and again?

Knowing your strengths gives you fodder for your marketing message and sales pitch. It helps you zero in on exactly how you can attract and serve your target market.

How to Implement This: Not sure what makes your company the best? Talk to your customers. Ask them what they like about you. You can do this one-on-one or by emailing a survey to them.

Pay attention to your areas of weakness and work on developing them into strengths.

Make those strengths the center of your marketing campaigns.

Continually work to keep those strengths strong, as well as to develop new ones.

Look for Opportunity Everywhere

Nowhere do we have a better example of a man intent on world domination than we do in Trump. Being a successful businessman wasn’t enough for him; now he’s going to be President!

Use his single-minded approach to expanding his empire to inspire you to find more opportunities to grow your business. Are there other products or services you can sell? People you could partner with? Keep your eyes open, because opportunities appear when you least expect them.

How to Implement This:Never decide what you’re doing is sufficient. Constantly seek ways to improve what you’re already doing as well as find new avenues to develop.

Invest in business networking to connect with people who could help you expand your business.

Look at competitors as potential business partners.

Constantly ask yourself: What next?

Work to Make America (Or Your Niche) Great Again

Trump’s slogan may have been played to death, but there’s something lovely about the concept of making something great that formerly was. Consider what’s “broken” in your industry. Maybe the fact that most of your competitors require their customers to go through a complex customer service phone tree to get a question answered is something you can make great again by streamlining customer service chat.

Or maybe the quality of products in your industry have declined. Rather than competing on price, you could focus on delivering high-quality products to stand out.

How to Implement This: Just like the average American can tell you how America is less wonderful than it was in years past, your customers can probably fill you in on what’s missing in your business or industry.

Read online reviews carefully and consider how you could address common concerns.

Make greatness part of your overall company mission.

Constantly assess results. Are you succeeding in creating greatness?

Love him or hate him, Trump is our future for at least the next four years. Let’s learn from his actions (and even mistakes), and let them inspire us to become better business owners in 2017.